Christianity and Its Compatibility with Aristotle's Theories

The first of the three major components of Christian ethics is that God is absolutely sovereign. Jews agree with this. God being absolutely sovereign necessitates that God created everything else and that He has always existed. He is incapable of error - perfect. Because of all this, Christian ethics call us to do everything God has commanded.

Secondly, Christian ethics tell us that human beings are bearers of the divine image. Jews agree with this too. This builds on the first component. It is the reason for God's command to treat other human beings well. The commands of a perfect being are not unreasonable.

The last component, which is unique to Christian ethics, is that righteousness cannot be obtained through outward observance of law or ritual, but rather with faith in Christ. Christian ethics tell us that we cannot be perfect or good "enough". We will always fall short. Because of this, we must believe in Christ, who was God as a human being, and devote ourselves to Christ. We must show our intention to be perfect in this way, though we are incapable of doing it ourselves.

The thing that Aristotle's theory does not consist of that Christian ethics does is the realization that we will not achieve perfection ourselves. Aristotle doesn't say one way or the other but simply concentrates on the fact that we should strive for perfection. Christian ethics agrees that it is one thing we should do. However, Christian ethics says that we should also be humble and admit that we are incapable of reaching perfection without help from God.

I don't think the Christian must think that what Aristotle said about the magnanimous person constitutes some error. Aristotle spoke, in theory, about a person who was worthy of great things. Instead, the Christian must think Aristotle erred in his exclusion of the important fact that human beings are incapable of magnanimity. God alone may be magnanimous. People who think themselves so are the fools Aristotle mentioned.


Written: October 21, 2002